Big East conference play gets underway for No. 9 Marquette as it welcomes Butler to Milwaukee on Wednesday night.Both teams are looking to start conference play on a higher note after scuffling at the end of early nonconference play. Marquette (9-2) has lost two of three and Butler (7-4) has lost three in a row.The ranked Golden Eagles fell on the road in front a hostile crowd at Dayton 71-63 on Saturday despite leading by 10 at the half. Marquette shot just 4 of 17 from deep in the second half.”I thought we allowed the chaotic and frantic nature of the game to affect our clarity of mind on the defensive end,” Marquette head coach Shaka Smart said. “It’s a real lesson for us, because you have to have that, and you have to have true connectivity as a group.”Chase Ross led Marquette with 19 points while Kam Jones scored 18 despite getting into foul trouble in the first half and committing his third very early in the second half.”As a team, we’ve got to be able to play with more poise when he (Jones) is out of the game,” Smart said. “We need more guys that can create some action for us,Butler’s third consecutive loss came at the Indy Classic to Wisconsin, a team Marquette beat 88-74 on Dec. 7. The Bulldogs were upset at home by North Dakota State earlier in the week.”This isn’t the first time I’ve lost three games in a row. And just because you lose three games in a row doesn’t mean you’re gonna have a bad season,” Bulldogs guard Patrick McCaffery said, according to the Indianapolis Star.McCaffery’s advice for his Butler squad has been to not get discouraged with early-season struggles.”I’ve tried my best to kind of influence our younger players and the older guys to know our season is far from over,” he said. “We have so many games left to play, so many opportunities. You just got to keep pushing forward.”Butler has three scorers averaging double-figures: Jahmyl Telfort (16.2), Pierre Brooks II (15.5) and McCaffery (12.9). Andre Screen leads down low, averaging 6.0 boards and 1.3 blocks.